CITU backs July 1 protest for MGNREGA restoration
The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) extends its fullest support, solidarity and active participation to the nationwide protest actions on July 1, 2026, called by the All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU) and the joint platform of Rural Workers’ Organisations.
The Government’s decision to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the VB-GRAMG Scheme from July 1, 2026, is a calculated attempt to dismantle the only statutory guarantee of 100 days of wage employment available to rural households.
“For the rural working class, MGNREGA is not a welfare programme; it is a legally enforceable right to work that provides wage security, strengthens the bargaining power of labour against landlordist and capitalist exploitation, and offers protection against chronic unemployment and distress,” said General Secretary Elamaram Kareem.
The attack on MGNREGA is not confined to agricultural workers alone. It is an assault on the entire rural and urban unorganised working class. The weakening of rural employment inevitably depresses rural wages, intensifies distress migration and expands the pool of cheap labour available to urban employers.
CITU demands strengthening of MGNREGA through a legally guaranteed minimum of 200 days of employment per rural household, a substantial enhancement of wages linked to inflation, and the timely payment of wages as mandated by law. CITU further demands that the employment guarantee be expanded to cover every rural household seeking work and that a similar legally guaranteed employment programme be introduced for urban workers.
CITU calls upon all its State Committees, federations and affiliated unions at the district, block and panchayat levels to mobilise industrial workers, unorganised workers and all sections of the working class to actively participate in the 1 July nationwide protests in solidarity with rural workers.
CITU will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with AIAWU and all organisations of rural workers to strengthen this united struggle and ensure that July 1 becomes a resounding assertion of the Right to Work, the dignity of labour and the unity of India’s working people.
